


waking up at the start of the end of the world

by water_poet



Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: Aftermath, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - No Girlfriends/No Wives, Bittersweet, Drinking & Talking, F/M, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, Healing, Hopeful Ending, Implied Sexual Content, Kissing, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Safiya lives, Short & Sweet, Two Shot, and you better believe I binged it baby, cuz etn is currently free, tbh this was just for fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 01:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19879600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/water_poet/pseuds/water_poet
Summary: They heal, slowly and unsurely.Now with fan art! https://peanut-butter-and-pencils.tumblr.com/image/186507526867





	1. dusk 'til dawn

**Author's Note:**

> Escape the Night Season 1
> 
> Oli x Eva, the classic
> 
> AU where:  
> 1\. The group really comes from the 20s  
> 2\. Everyone is their characters
> 
> I wrote something in past tense? Holy shit?

She'd never have picked him out at the beginning.   
  
He was everything she rebuffed. He was rich, of course, and too bold to be couth and he laughed far too loud for her liking.   
  
And then all hell broke loose and there was no time for petty assumptions anymore. People died, and Eva found herself getting drawn back to Oli again and again.  
  
He was smart, she realized, far more than she had first thought. Not clever in her way, not with puzzles and riddles and wits, but his heart was far too wise for his own good and she watched it break and mend and break again as the night dragged on but he never lost hope.  
  
He had her back, and she saved his life.  
  
"Eva...Jesus, thank you...I'm so sorry, thank you, you saved - " he gasped as she struggled with the restraints on the electric chair.   
  
"Don't mention it" she said, and he stumbled out of the chair and into her arms. His hands were cold in hers as she murmured words of comfort, but when the sun rose and they had made it out, he held her close and he was warm.  
  
Eva let him embrace her, let her body press into his in the backseat of the car as Joey drove them away as fast and as far as he could go. Oli's hand stayed firm on her shoulder and she realized he smelled like earth and pine and she slept, exhausted.  
  


* * *

  
Oli'a house was one Eva would have considered extravagant, a week or so prior. But compared to the endless hallways and deep, cold corridors of the manor, the gaslight and the fur rugs and even the hunting trophies scattered across the walls felt almost homely and comforting.  
  
"You wouldn't...maybe you'd like to visit for tea, then? My summer home, outside the city. Don't fancy being alone up there too long now - " he'd begun.  
  
"I'd love to" she'd interrupted, and maybe that was when it started, with the flush of red in Oli's cheeks at her words and the way she felt herself start to fall. She scrabbled for something, anything, because love was the last thing she needed but he smiled sheepishly at her and she loved him just a little all the same.  
  
She stayed for dinner (Oli was actually a decent chef) and together they stayed up into the pale hours of the morning, talking softly.   
  
Oli talked about his pet dog growing up. He talked about the brook with violets and daises growing by it behind his grandmother's house, and how he and his brother would spend their summer evenings tramping around in the muddy banks and come home with petals in their hair and dirt on the cuffs of their trousers. He was something of a poet, really.  
  
Eva listened to it all with rapt attention. It was almost like a news story, but not quite. It was more secretive, more intimate. In her mind, she watched as Oli grew and by the time she arrived back at her flat she felt like she'd known him all her life.  
  


* * *

  
They kept in touch as the year passed. Eva sent letters in looping script on rose-scented paper and attached her best articles. Oli replied with rough handwriting on thick sheets and stories of his hometown, rich and vibrant even in mere ink.  
  
They healed, slowly and unsurely. And when Oli would break down in his letters and Eva could hear the panic in his voice she would always write back with more stories and promises and flowers pressed between the folds of the paper, daisies and buttercups and baby's breath.  
  
When summer came again, so did Oli, and Eva met him on the dock. She threw her arms around him and he held her for a long moment. This time, he smelled like salt and parchment and roses and she loved him just a little bit more.  
  
They arrived at his house for tea and the walls were bared and the floors were yawning clean wood.  
  
"What happened to your decor?" Eva asked.  
  
"Sold 'em" Oli admitted.  
  
"Why?" Eva asked, but she knew the answer.  
  
Oli sighed, his gaze fixed on the window where the afternoon sky was framed by delicate white curtains. "Couldn't stand to look at dead things anymore"  
  
He laughed dryly. "I'm out of a job now"  
  
Eva shrugged, tracing the painted flowers on her teacup. "You could work for me. Lug my camera around, you know?"   
  
Oli looked almost stunned for a moment before he smiled, leaning back on the sofa.  
  
"I wouldn't mind" he said, not looking up from his teacup.  
  
And it was happening again. She was falling.   
  
She didn't try to stop it this time. Instead, she set her cup down and moved closer, just close enough to feel the heat of his body against hers. She placed a hand on his knee and he looked at her, surprised and shy, but her eyes were closed and she leaned against him like she had all those months ago in the backseat of the car driving away from the end of the world.  
  


* * *

  
The summer passed in a blur and somehow in August Eva found herself on the dock again, this time with a suitcase in each hand.  
  
"It's a work trip" she told Oli, which was technically true, since the manager of the paper had agreed to fund her little trip in exchange for some candid photos and articles. "I won't even make you carry my things"  
  
He did anyway, hardly phased by the weight.  
  
As it turned out, Eva loved ships.   
  
Oli did not.  
  
"Bloody things are always rocking about, making you sick. They smell bad, too, cuz no one ever showers on board" he insisted, and Eva smiled behind the rim of her mug.  
  
Sometimes, late at night, she'd hear Oli murmuring in his sleep about chains and chairs and huge, hulking figure. On those nights, she'd wake him gently and they'd sit on the deck, listening to the waves.   
  
It was on one of those nights that Eva asked.  
  
"What do you remember?"  
  
Oli sighed, and the lights from the deck spotlights shone on his face in shades of gold. He looked younger, for a moment, softer and innocent.  
  
"Just...flashes, really. Little bits of memory" he began. "I see...I see their faces all the time. Lele's, especially. The way she just...screamed like that, bloody terrified. I can never get it out of my head, Eva"  
  
Eva rubbed her knees cautiously, pondering her next words. Her heart ached with a thousand broken promises and a thousand more she had yet to make.  
  
"When I saved Lele that first time, and Andrea...it felt like it was my fault. Like there must have been a solution to save them both. There _must_ have been. And Tim, I can't forget him, I can't forget the way he looked at me when he - "  
  
Her throat closed up with a broken, gasping sob. Oli's arms were around her in an instant and she cried into his chest. The rough tweed of his jacket scratched her face and for a moment she missed the furs and the leathers but Oli smelled like the sea so she pressed herself closer.  
  
Oli brushed his hand through her long hair, his voice cracked and faint as he whispered gentle nothings.  
  
When Eva looked up, his eyes were soft and her heart was aching so she grabbed the rough tweed of his jacket collar and kissed him hard.  
  
He pulled her closer, and the boat rocked gently through the night.  
  


* * *

  
She woke up to the sound of his heartbeat and the warmth of him pressed into her and for the first time in too long the ache in her chest was gone, replaced only by something like love.  
  
Oli stirred and looked at her, and Eva remembered the way he'd held her in the car and the stories about the brook and the petals and his empty hallways. But more than anything, she remembered saving his life as he stared at her like she was a goddess, just like he did now.  
  
"I love you"   
  
She kissed him again, and for the last time she realized he smelled like home.


	2. sunday in the six day war

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Everlock, there's no one left for them but each other. Somehow, they'll be alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Safiya x Matt, cuz they're my favs and they're real smarties
> 
> #justiceforsaf
> 
> AU where:  
> 1\. The group really comes from the 70s  
> 2\. Matt and Safiya were chums who sometimes worked together before Everlock  
> 3\. The final two survivors were Saf and Matt (because that's who it should have been all along smh)  
> 4\. Everyone is their characters, so there's no Tyler or Steph or any of that because we don't stan cheating!

It was dawn when they half-stumbled out of the gates, the coolness of the air crashing over them like a wave.   
  
Matt clung to Safiya's arm like she would float away into the orange streaked sky if he let go. In other other circumstance, she'd have been annoyed. But not then.   
  
"We made it" Safiya said, the words, those spoken and those still caught in her throat, dry on her tongue.   
  
Matt nodded. There really wasn't anything more to be said. They both knew the prices paid by both the living and the dead. But thinking about it made it worse, so they didn't turn back to watch the gate vanish. Instead, they trudged back to where Matt's car was parked, Safiya's bicycle leaning against the doors as if it had been waiting.  
  
It was almost too normal a scene, too tame and quiet and homely after the lights and the screams that still flickered behind their eyelids.  
  
"Want a ride?" Matt asked, and Safiya realized he'd let go of her arm.   
  
To her surprise, she missed it.  
  
"Sure, detective. Pretty certain I'm too shaky to pedal, anyway" she smiled, tossing the bike into the back before sliding into the passenger seat next to Matt.  
  
For a long moment, he didn't start the car. Instead, he stared down at his badge. He ran his fingers over the raised details, and Safiya knew what he was thinking.  
  
"I'm sorry" was all she said.  
  
It wasn't enough, of course. Nothing ever would be, not now.  
  
"Me too" Matt replied softly. The bitterness in his voice wasn't for her, but it might as well have been. She deserved it. But Matt only smiled in his charming, debonaire way and started the car.  
  
"Let's get a drink" he said.  
  
"So early? Not very professional, Matt" Safiya joked. The words came out softer this time, not so worn. The wind picked up and her hair began to twist in the breeze, reflecting snatches of gold and red.  
  
"I know" Matt said, in the voice of a man who knows most things (as, indeed, he did) as he pulled out of the parking lot and started the road back to LA. "But I'm on vacation. For, like, the next six weeks at l _east_ "  
  
They laughed together as the sun continued to rise behind them, the bouncing sounds of that small joy echoing out over the empty field where Everlock had stood just hours before.  
  


* * *

  
The bar was quiet and the man at the counter looked surprised to see Matt and Safiya, but something in their body language must have told him to leave well enough alone.  
  
Matt ordered whiskey and Safiya chose a beer and they sat, listening to the tinny sounds of the jukebox in the corner as it blared _I Wanna Hold Your Hand_.  
  
"How are you holding up?" Safiya asked finally, reaching over to put a hand on Matt's knee.  
  
He shrugged. He knew the answer, of course, but the words he needed were still beyond his reach.  
  
"What are you going to do with all that vacation time?" Safiya said.  
  
"Maybe I'll go to beach" Matt replied. "Ro always said - "  
  
He stopped and the name hung over the pair like a cloud.  
  
"I miss her so fucking much" Matt said. He hated to swear, Safiya knew, but lately the curses seemed to slip in between his words more and more frequently, as if the corruption of the town was still within him somehow.  
  
The thought made her sick.  
  
"I do, too" Safiya said. "But she wouldn't want us to be sad, right?"  
  
Neither could say the answer, and the jukebox rattled out another tune as the pair sat in silence, staring dully at their drinks.  
  
Matt raised his glass half-heartedly. "To Ro?"  
  
Safiya felt a smile tug at her mouth and she let it happen, unafraid. "To Ro" she agreed, knocking her bottle against Matt's tumbler before downing a bitter gulp which left her chest aching but reminded her she was still alive, here, with Matt.  
  
Under the counter, she gripped his hand in hers.  
  


* * *

  
It was a slow process, the recovery. After all, it wasn't like there was anyone they could tell their story to for fear of being hospitalized.  
  
Instead, they found comfort in each other. They met for coffee ever Wednesday and drinks on Saturday night. Safiya worked Matt's next case alongside him, documenting evidence.   
  
It was nice, really, to not be alone.  
  
There were others, a small few who seemed to understand somehow, as though the pain of Joey's games echoed through the ages. There was Eva down at the record shop and Oli who worked in the mechanic's, both possessing matching tired eyes with the same sort of eerie sadness Matt watched cloud his own every morning.  
  
Rumors flew quickly as they spent more time together, and before long Matt and Safiya had been in love and married and divorced a dozen times over and they laughed every time at the ridiculousness of it all.  
  
Then again, maybe there was some truth in all those rumors.  
  
One evening, Safiya showed up at his office, bleary-eyed and limp. She stayed the night on the sofa, long limbs curled over each other. Matt didn't sleep. Instead, he sat at his desk and listened to Safiya's soft breaths, each one slowly soothing his aching heart.  
  
He felt it then. Light and sweet and good. Hopeful.  
  
And maybe the rumors were true, after all.  
  


* * *

  
Safiya showed up at the office for the third time in the week and Matt laughed as he poured her a cup of coffee.  
  
"I take it business has been slow?"  
  
Safiya snorted sardonically over her coffee. "Hardly. But every crime scene starts to look familiar after a while. I can't stay too long"  
  
Matt sighed, flicking the bottlecap of his soda across his desk. He watched it spin unevenly until it bumped into his pencil holder with a dull clink.  
  
"I know what you mean" he said, and Safiya almost laughed to realize he was the only human alive who could say such a thing.  
  
He came to stand by her at the window, thumbs resting in his beltloops as they watched the cars drive by down on the street. Safiya leaned against him, just slightly, and for the first time in a very, very long while, Matt felt something like warmth stir in his chest.  
  
He turned to look at Safiya only to find she was already looking at him. Her eyes darted away for a brief moment but returned to his, questioning.  
  
 _Is this real? Is this okay?_  
  
They were just barely the same height, and if Matt were to slouch Safiya would have towered over him. But now she almost seemed small, reluctant, so different from her usual self.  
  
"Saf - "  
  
They met in the middle, a bittersweet, melancholy embrace. Matt felt like he had before that night, when he listened to his mom's record collection or laughed over tea with Rosanna. He felt okay for the first time in a while.  
  
Safiya, for her part, felt safe.  
  


* * *

  
She moved in two weeks later. It didn't take much, most of her things had managed to accumulate at Matt's place anyway - her favorite jacket and mug and a stack of records.  
  
The letter arrived at the end of spring.  
  
"Don't open it" Safiya said, fingers twitching.  
  
So they didn't, and it sat on the coffee table for days until its strange hold over them, like all things from that night, pulled them in and they opened it, almost entranced.  
  
"It's a trap" Safiya said.  
  
She was probably right, of course. But they both hoped far too much, even now, so the letter sat on the table over the weekend and Matt finally called the number printed on the paper. His hands shook as he clutched the phone and Safiya sat beside him, gently rubbing his back.  
  
"Is it true?" she heard him say.  
  
Silence.  
  
"How do we know this isn't another game, Joey?"  
  
More silence.  
  
"Is that a promise? Don't make it if you can't - "  
  
Safiya can almost make out Joey's reply this time. Something about a collection and a museum and a map.  
  
"Fine. But I'm not doing this for you. I damn well hope you know that" Matt snapped. "Alright. Goodbye"  
  
He hung up the phone with a loud noise and turned towards Safiya, wringing his hands.  
  
"He says there's away to bring them back"   
  
Safiya felt her chest flutter and she stamped it out as quickly as it came. "He's lying. It's just another trap"  
  
Matt sighed, pulling off his glasses to rub his eyes. "You might be right" he said. "But don't we owe it to her...to them to try? If we don't go, what does that make us?"  
  
"Smart" Safiya said, but she remembered Colleen's screams and Ro's yellow hat and the empty shop down the street she'd wanted to buy in hopes of starting a macaron bakery and the longing ache in her voice broke through.  
  
Matt grabbed her hand between his, warm and thin and desperate. "I won't let him risk our lives again. But if we can help..."  
  
Safiya laughed breathlessly. "You're right. You're always right, Matthew Patrick, and I _resent_ you for it"  
  
She didn't, and he kissed her like he knew.  
  
"Let's go find that map" she said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Might go back and revisit these later, but for now I just wanted to get it out there to get some reactions.

**Author's Note:**

> Somewhat inspired by this cute lil video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKAVVPYAAVQ&list=LLTkZwNlagximlB9rThNgq3A&index=4&t=0s


End file.
